Gaming devices which provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. Gaming devices generally require the player to place or make a wager to activate the primary or base game. In many of these gaming devices, the award is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or symbol combination and on the amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the wager, the higher the award). Symbols or symbol combinations which are less likely to occur usually provide higher awards.
Secondary or bonus games are also known in gaming devices. The secondary or bonus games usually provide an additional award to the player. Secondary or bonus games usually do not require an additional wager by the player to be activated. Many secondary or bonus games are generally activated or hit upon an occurrence of a designated triggering symbol or triggering symbol combination in the primary or base game. For instance, a bonus symbol occurring on the payline on the third reel of a three reel slot machine may hit the secondary bonus game. Part of the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain gaming devices is the occurrence or triggering of the secondary or bonus game (even before the player knows how much the bonus award will be).
Primary wagering games of gaming devices in most jurisdictions are games of luck, not games of skill. For instance, in slot machines, the player must make a wager on the slot game to begin the slot game, and the gaming machine randomly determines the outcome for the slot game. The outcome may be a winning outcome or a losing outcome. The outcome determines whether the player obtains an award according to the paytable of the slot machine. The paytables and winning combinations of the slot machine are predetermined or static.
One reason slot machines are popular, is because an amateur, novice or inexperienced player can play most slot machines at the player's own pace, with no required skills, strategy or risk evaluation and perform as well as a seasoned or experienced slot game player. Most slot machines are set to pay back on average between 80 and 99 percent of the amounts that the players wager. In most modern slot machines, a processor controlling the slot machine randomly determines the outcomes and thus the awards. In other slot machines, a central server determines the awards and sends the awards to a plurality of slot machines. The central server determines such awards from a pool of potential awards, where each award of the pool must be eventually provided to a player. The central server picks each award randomly from the pool.
Certain wagering gaming devices such as video poker and blackjack involve certain player strategy or decision-making. The player decides which cards to hold in draw-type poker games and whether to take additional cards in blackjack-type card games. These games generally require a certain level of strategy to be successful. Further, some secondary or bonus games triggered in a primary wagering game require a player to risk an award won to potentially achieve a higher award. These games also can generally be said to require a certain level of strategy to be successful.
Certain other bonus or secondary games triggered in a primary wagering game also employ skill, apparent skill or pseudo skill. In certain of these bonus games, the awards are generally randomly determined. The player's participation in the skill, apparent skill or pseudo skill event may, for instance, determine the timing of when the player gets the awards. In another known gaming device, the player skill can determine which set or pool of awards will be used to determine the award provided to the player in the game. The processor of the gaming device randomly determines the award from the determined set or pool of awards to provide to the player.
Wagering games of gaming devices in certain jurisdictions are required to involve a skill event such as an event requiring player dexterity to be successful. These games cannot turn purely upon a random outcome. These gaming machines require strategy or timing of inputs by the player to determine chance of success and failure. If the player does not play optimally, the actual payout percentage of the gaming machine will decrease accordingly.
Most known gaming devices determine whether to provide a player any primary game awards in accordance with a primary game paytable and/or any secondary game awards in accordance with a secondary game paytable. For a play of a primary game, the primary game paytable has an average expected primary game payout based on a percentage of generating each primary game outcome and an award amount associated with each primary game outcome. Further, for a play of the secondary game, the secondary game paytable has an average expected secondary game payout based on a percentage of generating each secondary game outcome and an award amount associated with each secondary game outcome. Primary game paytables include a likelihood of a triggering event associated with the secondary game. Accordingly, the average expected primary game payout plus the average expected secondary game payout form the total average expected payout of the gaming device. For example, for each $1.00 wagered, if the average expected primary game payout of a primary game paytable is $0.80 (i.e., an average expected primary game payout percentage of 80%) and the average expected secondary game payout of a secondary game paytable is $0.18 (i.e., an average expected secondary game payout percentage of 18%), then the total average expected payout of the gaming device is $0.98 for each $1 wagered (i.e., the gaming device has an average expected payout percentage of 98%). It should be appreciated that different wager amounts are associated with different primary game paytables and/or different secondary game paytables.
Wagering games which are purely skill games or partial skill games present certain problems for game designers and gaming establishments. First, skill games can be mastered by players having a high level of skill, substantial practice or both. To combat the mastering of such games and to make the economics work, a game designer may have to make the skill game relatively difficult. The difficulty level may be too great for inexperienced or average players to have a sufficient level of success and enjoyment at the gaming machines. Such players may not have a good gaming experience and may not repeat play on the gaming machines.
Further, skill games are generally interactive and are enjoyable for certain people to play. Many people have especially grown accustomed to and comfortable with playing arcade skill games, home video skill games, computer skill games, handheld device skill games, and data network (e.g., internet) skill games. Some of these people may not want to play games of conventional gaming devices which are purely based on randomly generated outcomes and involve no skill or little skill. Some of these people also enjoy the competitive nature of skill games which are not provided by known conventional wagering games of gaming machines.
Certain regulators have established various restrictions on the award payout percentages for gaming devices that incorporate skill-based games because certain skill players excel at skill-based games and thus, on average, win more awards than lower skilled players. Accordingly, certain players may feel as though the award payout percentages are not commensurate with their skill levels. In addition, certain known gaming devices incorporate the average expected payout percentage of any skill-based games into the total average expected payout percentage of the gaming devices. Accordingly, the paytables of the gaming devices are constrained by the awards of the skill-based games.
There is a continuing need to provide new and different gaming systems and methods which provide awards for skill-based games that are neither limited by regulations nor incorporated into paytable percentages.
There is also a continuing need to provide new and different gaming systems and methods which cater to higher skilled players while still accommodating lesser skilled players when determining which awards are provided to such player.